Saturday 14 June 2014

Blonde, continued...

Just a few shots to show the progress of the blonde synthetic wig.  It's coming along well, and a bit quicker now that I'm knotting in a clear open space on top rather than trying to dodge seams and darts!

I have decided I will continue to ventilate all the way to the top seam before changing the fronting lace.




Friday 13 June 2014

Thanks for sharing!

As someone who hasn't had any formal training in wig making,  I find it difficult at times to find answers to some of my technical questions on the subject.  Many wig makers, understandably, keep their methods and sources a closely-guarded secret.

There are a few I have come across who are incredibly generous with their help and advice.  I just wanted to add a quick post to say how much I appreciate everyone out there who is willing to share their knowledge with those of us who are trying to learn the ropes.

A huge source of information and inspiration for me has been Super Wig Maker on YouTube.  I really admire his ability to take a problem or situation and break it down into the most minute detail to find the solution.  He is not a professional wig maker, but he works with very basic tools and supplies to explore and experiment continually, and shares his knowledge freely.  If you're interested in learning to make wigs, you should definitely check out his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB9_pmyRjgrIRygdtajg3nA

I just received a tip from another excellent wig maker, Sam Cox (a professional in the UK.) His advice has quite possibly changed my life!  Well, it has definitely changed the way I make wigs from now on!

I have been worried because the very fine front lace of the current blonde wig I'm making is fraying at an alarming rate:



I asked Sam about this via email, and he told me that if the lace is turned 90 degrees, so that the holes run horizontally instead of vertically, the lace will not fray!

I tested it out on a scrap piece of the same lace, and it really does make a difference!

The downside is that now I will have to remove the front of the wig and replace it with new lace, but it will definitely be worth the effort and expense to prevent the front of the wig from falling apart.

You can check out Sam's excellent work on his website:  http://www.samcoxwigdesign.com

So, my sincere thanks to everyone who has shared a tip or helped me out along the way.  I hope that some of my posts will be useful to other would-be wiggies along the way too. :P


EDIT:  here are a couple of diagrams to illustrate what I mean.  If you look at the photo above you will see that the holes in the lace are currently running like this when you look at the cap from the front:


I will remove the old lace and attach a new piece with the lace oriented so that the holes are running like this instead:


You will notice with the new orientation, it will be impossible to knot the hairs so that they are directed straight back (or straight forward if you are ventilating forward from the crown.)  The knots will now have to be on a slight angle to the hairline.  However, I find this makes a more natural hairline anyway.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Synthetic colour experiments

I have been fooling around with some of the heat resistant hair in different colours just to see how realistic I can get them to look.  I have to say that I'm really amazed!

The hair I used here isn't the best quality I have seen, just standard heat resistant hair extensions from eBay, but even so I think the look is amazing!

In these samples I used a mix of three colours - #18, #10, and white - to try to emulate my own hair colour, a light ashy brown/dark ashy blonde with about 20% grey.  I think I nailed it!  I love the way it catches the light in the second shot.